The popularity of cellular or mobile devices has been increasing significantly. Unlike traditional corded or land-line telephones, cellular or mobile devices offer improved portability, flexibility, and convenience to individuals to communicate with others. In addition, with factors such as continuing advances in mobile phone technology, reduction of billing plan prices, and ever-expanding coverage areas by mobile service providers (hereinafter “service providers”), cellular or other mobile wireless devices have become immersed into many people's everyday lives.
Currently, to use a wireless telephone, a user often purchases a wireless telephone with a one- or two-year billing plan or with a short-term contract (e.g., a month-to-month or pre-paid billing plan) offered by a service provider. The billing plan usually subjects the user to a monthly service fee for an allotted monthly wireless usage. For example, the monthly service fee may be $29.99 for wireless usage of 300 minutes per month. Additional minutes over the allotted monthly usage are charged to the user according to a per-minute rate (e.g., $0.40 per minute), and the user pays a roaming charge when the user is outside the service provider's coverage area. The billing plan customarily offers features such as voice mail, text messaging, caller identification (ID), call waiting, or the like. In addition, depending on the types of wireless telephones, the service provider may offer additional services such as ring-tone download, Internet access, sending email, sending email with pictures (e.g., especially with a wireless telephone equipped with a built-in digital camera), or the like.
Also, many wireless telephones provide features such as a telephone book, speed dialing, calendar, organizer, etc. As a result, the users customarily set personal device preferences, such as a particular ring tone when a particular person or a group of person (e.g., family members) calls. Alternatively, the users may input telephone numbers to the telephone book, set the clock according to the time zone, or the like.
While the users may set user preferences to the wireless telephone defining how to use the device, the users have not been able to set user preferences on the wireless telephone defining how to receive messages and/or telephone calls. For example, when the user fails to answer an incoming call, the service provider customarily routes the call to a voicemail messaging system managed by the service provider. The voicemail messaging system plays a prerecorded greetings (e.g., recorded by the user or assigned by system default) and prompts the caller to leave messages for the user. The messages are received and stored on the service provider's data storage for future playback.
To retrieve and listen to the voice messages, conventional wireless telephone systems typically send a visual or audible notification to the user's wireless telephone indicating that there is a voicemail waiting. The user must then call the voicemail messaging system, enter a password and navigate a set of menu options to retrieve the message. The wireless usage used to retrieve the message is typically counted against the user's allotted monthly usage. The calls may also be prolonged if the user wishes to replay the message due to poor reception or length of the message.
Some systems automatically push voicemail messages to the user's wireless telephone for storage. However, the user may not wish to store a long voicemail message on the wireless telephone or the wireless telephone may not have sufficient storage to store the message. Some other systems prompt the user to decide whether to download each message. These systems, however, require the user to make such a download decision every time a voicemail message notification is received. Even if the wireless telephone has sufficient storage to store the message, this repetitive interaction degrades the user experience.
Accordingly, client-initiated system for dynamically and automatically retrieving messages in response to end user preferences is desired to address one or more of these and other disadvantages.